Renegade
by VixenOfSapphireShadows
Summary: Red-X has always worn a mask. He presents himself to the world as a criminal hidden behind a skull. But who is he really? Who is the man behind the mask? [My take on Red-X's possible identity. Implied RavenxRed-X]
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Cobalt Vixen again! So this story is my take on Red-X's possible identity. The show never really gives him one, so I decided to. Hopefully y'all will like him!**

 _Renegade._ Noun _. 1) Traitor—somebody who abandons previously held beliefs or loyalties. 2) Rebel—somebody who chooses to live outside laws or conventions._

He closed the dictionary and replaced it to its shelf. _Renegade._ Yup, he liked it. Especially the rebel part, but not so much the traitor part. He'd never betrayed anyone.

That's a lie. He'd never betrayed anyone who _didn't_ deserve it.

He stuffed his gloved hands into his jeans pockets and sauntered out of the Gotham Public Library. He scowled as the snow and biting wind immediately stung at his face. Why did it have to friggin snow all the time? Yes it was December but come on. He tugged his grey scarf up around his nose and mouth and bowed his head, watching his boots as they crunched through the snow.

Now, some guys would be ashamed of or embarrassed to wear a scarf. Too girly, they would say. But he really didn't care; it kept part of his face from freezing and, dare he say, he looked pretty dang good. Oh yeah, he could pull off just about anything. He bet he could even rock a dress.

As soon as the thought came to mind he cringed; a dress might be taking it too far. He was still a man and men did not parade around in dresses; especially not just because they could.

Lost as he was in his thoughts, he never saw it coming. Halfway down the steps of the library, he was suddenly assaulted by a significantly large, hard-packed snowball. It exploded against his left temple and the snow stuck in his dirty-blond hair, messing up his perfectly messy locks. He wiped the freezing snow off his face and ruffled his hair to dislodge the snowy shrapnel as two girls approached him on either side.

The girl to his right was giggling madly behind her hand while the girl on his left wore the most horrified expression. Seriously, you'd expect to see Godzilla suddenly appear from the look on her face.

"Nice shot, Haven. At least you got a cute one," the girl on his right said, her giggles turning into all out laughter.

A voice spoke from his left. "I. Am. So sorry," the girl, Haven, said, reaching a hand up as if to touch his face but pulling it back instead.

He pulled his scarf down around his neck and conjured one of his charming smiles. Not his _most_ charming, but more than just friendly.

"Hey, it's okay. No harm done," he said. "And your friend's right—it was a nice shot."

Haven blushed and opened her mouth to speak, but her friend got to it first. "Her 'friend'," she said, holding her hand out to him "Is named Mila."

He took Mila's gloved hand in his own, but instead of shaking it as she'd expected, he brought her hand up, bending his head and pressing his lips to her knuckles.

Mila's cheeks, already rosy from the cold, blushed a deep crimson. He smirked. Yeah, he had that effect on women.

"Ah, a gentleman," she said with a smile. "And cute. You sure know how to pick 'em, Haven."

"Mila," Haven began with disbelief in her voice. "I just hit him with a snowball. In the head. He could have a concussion."

"Really, Haven, I'm fine," he said. "It's just a bit of snow."

She still didn't seem convinced, but let it drop, tucking a strand of long chocolate hair streaked with cobalt behind her ear.

"Well, if you're sure you're okay, my name's Jaylee." She didn't offer her hand.

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Jaylee?

Mila seemed to understand his silent question and explained the change of names. "'Haven's' like a pet name," she said. "Her real name's Jaylee but I prefer not to call her that."

He nodded and offered the two girls a small bow. "Well, my lovely ladies, allow me to introduce myself," he said.

Anyone who had ever doubted his ability to woo women should have been there in that instant. The two girls before him were living, breathing proof that he was a natural charmer. Jaylee/Haven seemed to forget all about the snowball and Mila was visibly melting at his chivalry. They were eating this up.

"My name is Dimitri Coleman, Gotham's resident charmer." He threw on a dazzling smile and the girls giggled and blushed prettily.

Mila twirled one of her short red curls and smiled at him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dimitri. I'm going to be bold here," she began and shot a glance at Jaylee/Haven, not really asking permission, more like telling her she was about to do something, as she said, _bold_.

He looked to Jaylee—he'd decided to call her by her real name; Haven seemed too personal,—who was looking at Mila like she was crazy. Really, this girl had quite an expressive face.

"I know we just met and everything," Mila continued "but you strike me as a risk-taker. And aside from the snowball, we won't hurt you. So how would you like to join us clubbing tonight?"

He chuckled. " _Risk-taker._ Trust me, you have no idea. Where do you have in mind?"

There were several clubs in Gotham, both above- and under-ground. If he agreed to go, which he most definitely would—seriously, what idiot would turn down the chance to accompany two gorgeous girls to a club?—he would need to know where to meet them.

"There's a new dance club on Dawn St downtown. We really want to check it out—"

"Correction," Jaylee cut in " _Mila_ really wants to check it out; I'm just going to keep her out of trouble."

"—which won't be necessary. And we'd really love for you to come along, if you're interested."

Dimitri pretended to think about it, even checked the calendar on his phone, to build anticipation. It was a little trick he'd learned in high school. Even if you'd already decided on your answer, make the girl wait for it. If one did so, presenting the possibility of a rejection, then the girl would want you to go even more.

"Yeah, my night's clear—this Saturday only—and I'd love to join you beauties," he said, adding another charming smile.

Mila's face broke into a beautiful grin and even Jaylee's face brightened at his answer. He passed his phone to Mila, who added her phone number to his contacts and told him they'd rendezvous at ten that night.

"Um, I guess we'll see you later then," Jaylee said as she pulled Mila down the steps towards a silver Mini Cooper.

Dimitri pulled his scarf up around his mouth and nose again and tucked his hands into his pockets. He descended the last steps into the fast-approaching blizzard, almost passing his motorcycle that was buried under a fair amount of snow.

He shook his head. As much as he loved his glossy black Yamaha YZF-R1, it was not going to do him well against the white flakes of evil. He'd have to find another mode of transportation for a while. Maybe a pickup truck. Yeah, he could definitely see himself in a brand new Ford F-150.

He made a mental note to check his stash, see if he had enough for a new truck, as he slipped on his tinted black helmet and mounted his bike.

 **I'll be posting chapter two sometime later this week, maybe next week, depending on how work and the like goes. Anyways, Hope you liked chapter one! Please review and let me know!**

 **Love to all!  
~Cobalt Vixen**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, whatcha think of Dimitri? Review and tell me, please! :) Now on to chapter 2...  
UPDATE: So very sorry about the formatting of this chapter when first posted! _That_ was a disaster and most definitely _not_ what I had uploaded. I didn't realize it until a wonderful reader pointed it out to me. Thank you for that and again I apologize! -Cobalt Vixen  
**

Four hours later, the shrill scream of the Yamaha dealership's alarm was chasing Dimitri as he raced down one of Steel City's side alleys.

He revved the bike's engine and couldn't contain his laughter as the powerful rumble echoed down the alley. While he knew it was probably unintelligent of him to let loose with his new toy, seeing as how the Titans East could easily track him down—provided they ever decided to _show up_ ,—he couldn't help but have a little fun with it.

The chilled winter air nipped at his exposed shoulders and bare arms but he didn't care. He was having too much fun. And it wasn't snowing! It was a Christmas miracle to Dimitri. He'd have to visit more often seeing as how the little frosty invaders hadn't spread to Steel City yet.

Dimitri smirked. When it came down to it, really, he wouldn't care if it did start snowing at that moment; not even the snow could dampen his excitement at having just pulled off a successful theft.

He smiled happily to himself, reminiscing about the crime that had just taken place. Dimitri, dressed as his new alter-ego, Renegade, had decided it was time to step up his game a little. It had been just over a year and a half since he'd left Jump City and the Teen titans behind, but he was still a thief. He couldn't very well prance around wherever as Red-X, though, for the Titans would be hunting him down—Wonder Boy would never just accept a life with no Red-X—so he'd lain low for a while. Dimitri had gotten himself an apartment and a steady job in Gotham while he scouted surrounding cities for minimal criminal activity. Steel City had been perfect. Hanging up the Red-X suit, he'd concocted Renegade and started small—petty thefts and small crimes that still paid but only left a little blip on the Titans East radar—and left no clue as to his identity. He'd carried on with the small stuff for approximately six months—a very boring six months—and now it was finally time to step it up to bigger crimes.

He'd had fun with this one. This little beauty had been calling to him from the show window and had provided the perfect opportunity to finally let Titans Eat know he was here. He'd continued to avoid all security cameras, not willing to show his masked face yet, stole the bike, and made a clean getaway with only the crime scene and his new calling card to tell them he'd been there.

He quite liked the idea of his own personal calling card. He'd bought an abandoned storage locker at an auction a month ago and found it to be filled with old casino junk, including crate upon crate of playing cards. At first, Dimitri was just going to sell them online—what use did he have for like a bazillion decks of cards? He worked as a barista, not a blackjack dealer—until his friend James commented on how cool they would be serving as the Joker's calling card for Batman.

He'd liked that idea. A lot. Seriously it was a pretty friggin awesome way to say " _catch me if you can_ ". So he'd tried something new in leaving a single playing card painted with a rough 'R' at the Yamaha dealership, right where the motorcycle had been waiting for him.

And he'd gotten away with it. Dimitri let out a cry of triumph. New city, new identity, but he was still the best criminal in the history of ever.

He took in a deep breath of the winter air as he now raced alongside the bay. The glistening 'T' shaped tower of Titans East stood as a sentinel on its lone island in the water.

He shook his head. The whole letter-shaped-tower thing was kind of ridiculous to him. Seriously, what human being—and/or alien in the Titans' case—would find it cool to say _"yeah, I live in a giant T"_?  
Not even Jump's cloaked Raven liked to admit where she lived. If you didn't already know, you never would. And not many people knew where she lived.

It wasn't at all surprising to Dimitri. Only a handful of citizens even knew she existed. They were all caught up in the naïve—and dare he say ditzy—innocence of the beautiful alien princess and the high-tech shine of the metal-man's armor, or the rapid-shift animal show the green Titan put on and the tightly-wound arrogance you could feel coming off in waves from their leader.

He scoffed. They were just a side show; the gourmet vegetable you still had to choke down in order to enjoy desert. The real show stealer was Raven; she just preferred the shadows to an overly bright spotlight. And that's the way Dimitri preferred it, too. If Raven were to let people see everything she was worth, everything she was and all she could do, well, then he'd have to start competing for a perch to watch her from. He enjoyed watching her in battles, witnessing the magnificence of her mysterious abilities. He liked to see her smile when she read over a good part in her book or bite her lip nervously beneath her hood when the Titans' received any sort of attention. It was a rare gem to see who Raven truly was and Dimitri liked that he and the Titans were the only ones to ever truly see her.

He jerked right and braked slightly to avoid the brick wall he was currently on course to hit. He sighed. Yes, he, Dimitri Coleman, Red-X and Renegade, villain extraordinaire, was smitten. And possessive. And way out of line. And aware of that. And didn't care.

He knew they worked on opposite ends of the spectrum and would never change their stripes. It would never happen and he understood that. He just liked to admire her; to take in every second of her he could. He would never find an exact replica of Raven just waiting for him to find her, but he hoped one day to find a girl as intelligent and opinionated and strong and beautiful as she was.

But for the time being, he had some cops to lose. Man, sirens were now chasing him and still no sign of Titans East. Were these guys lazy or what! He'd have to let Wonder Bread know his compadres in Steel were falling down on the job.


End file.
